Deer Nest Cliff Inscriptions

Deer Nest Cliff Inscriptions

The Deer Nest Cliff Inscriptions are a cultural relic protected at the district level in Haishu.

The Deer Nest Cliff Inscriptions are located in Zhangshi Village, ZhenShui Town, Haishu District, and were designated as a district-level cultural relic protection unit on May 28, 1986.

There are a total of nine cliff inscriptions, located at various sites in Zhangshi Village, including Pingfeng Rock, Menqian Mountain, Xiaxi Rock, and Menhoutou Mountain (Bai Bu Jie).

The Pingfeng Rock inscription is a tall, upright, rectangular megalith, measuring 4.5 meters in height, 1.95 meters in width, and 3.2 meters in thickness. Its front face bears four large clerical script characters: “四明山心” (The Heart of Siming Mountain). Each character is approximately 0.66 x 0.57 meters, with about 0.1 meters of space between them.

Walking northwest from Pingfeng Rock towards Bai Bu Jie, one encounters a lush bamboo and tree-filled valley between two mountains. A stream rushes out and is blocked by a towering boulder, splitting into separate flows. The streamside features numerous cliff inscriptions, and along the steep cliffs are three massive stone terraces, each about ten feet high. The first terrace bears the inscription “Three Gorges,” resembling a miniature version of the Yangtze River’s Three Gorges; where a clear spring gushes out, the words “Bathing the Heart” are carved; and where the stream cascades straight down, the characters “Drunken Spring” are inscribed. On the second terrace, the stream quiets from a roar to a murmur, flowing gently from a cave. The rock here is engraved with “Gurgling Cave.” The third terrace has a stone bridge spanning the stream. Beside it stands a square columnar boulder with the bold inscription “Passing Clouds,” locally referred to as “Passing Clouds Rock.”

In front of the village lies Menqian Mountain, which features the Buddha’s Hand Rock, inscribed with phrases such as “The Heart Sutra was washed out by Monk Chenglian,” “Treasure Canopy,” and “Green Mountains and Clear Waters.” On Menqian Mountain there is also Zhongfeng Rock, which bears the large seal script characters “中峰” (Central Peak), beneath which are regular script characters about six inches in size, now difficult to discern. To the east of the rock is a huge boulder with carvings including “Hefo” (Praise Buddha), “Zailai Yan” (Come Again Rock), “Sanmei” (Samadhi), “Huifu Bu Hui” (Can or Cannot?), “Wu Zu Shi” (No Master), and “Wu Xun Hui Ye” (No Regret or Instruction Either).

On the right side of the rock is the inscription “Opened and Celebrated in the Jiwei Year of Summer,” signed by the author. “Opened and Celebrated” refers to the reign era of Emperor Lizong of Song, Zhao Yun, while “Jiwei” corresponds to the year 1259 AD.

This group of cliff inscriptions shares similar fonts and is believed to date back to the Southern Song Dynasty, around the time of the Jiqing era. The textual content mainly consists of Buddhist terminology and is related to the Zhangshi Temple of that time. Zhangshi Temple was built in the first year of the Tang Dynasty’s Longji era (889), received its plaque bestowed by King Qian of Wuyue in the third year of Tianyou (906), was renovated in the fourth year of the Song Dynasty’s Tiansheng era (1026), and was destroyed by fire in the late Ming Dynasty.

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